Entries are now open online for the RYA Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championships 2015, which are set to descend on Oxford Sailing Club, Farmoor Reservoir, on the weekend of the 17 – 18 October.

The annual two day event will welcome teams from the Junior and Youth Class Associations, RYA Zones, clubs, schools and individual teams who will commence battle in the two separate events.

As one of the highlights of the RYA’s youth racing calendar, it is set to be very popular once again, providing the nation’s young sailors with the opportunity to develop their sailing skills and tactics whilst working as a team.

The Junior fleet will contest in RS Fevas and the Youth fleet Firefly’s in teams of six sailors racing in three boats (all boats are supplied).

Last year’s event was full-to-capacity, 288 sailors contested for the prestige of picking up the RYA Eric Twiname Team Racing Trophy. ‘Gingernut and Assorted Biscuits’ team won the Junior division and ‘420’ the Youth category.

Olivia Risk, Event Director said: “The RYA Eric Twiname Team Racing Championships is one of the most popular events in the Youth and Junior calendar. We always have a fantastic turnout and are hoping for similar this year.

“For many young racers this event gives them their first taste of a Team Racing Championships and is a great way of enhancing a sailor’s knowledge of the rules in a short course and exciting format. The event is usually oversubscribed so I would recommend entering as soon as possible.”

To enter the 2015 RYA Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championships, Youth entries must be under the age of 19 as of 1st September 2015, whilst Junior team entries must be under the age of 16 as of 1st September 2015.

The entry deadline is 25 September 2015 - no entries will be accepted after this date. Entries will be accepted on a first come, first served basis and will only be confirmed once payment has been received. Twenty-four teams consisting of six sailors in both the Junior (under 16) and Youth (under 19) fleets is the maximum entry number.

The USA open and youth teams both took gold after an action packed final day at the 2015 ISAF Team Racing World Championships at Rutland Water on Thursday 23 July.

Some 107 races were run on the day following an early morning decision to complete the event a day early due to a poor weather forecast for Friday, as 18 teams from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan and USA, plus an ASAF (Asian Sailing Federation) team comprising Indian, Malaysian and Hong Kong sailors battled it out.

After three days of very close racing in which every team sailed 34 races in Stage 1, the three GBR teams and the three USA teams, which between them almost had a monopoly on the top places, progressed into the Gold League for Stage 2 on Thursday. A difference of just six wins covered all six teams.

Bermuda, Ireland and Australia 1 also went through to the Gold League, a great result for Bermuda, who’s Captain Emily Nagel learnt to sail at nearby Oakham School, competing in its first ever team racing World championship. The remaining nine teams progressed into the Silver League

Thursday saw a double round robin in the morning for the Gold and Silver leagues, followed by the youth teams stage and finals, and rounded off with the open teams semi-finals and finals.

Racing remained extremely close in the Gold League. GBR1 reigning World Champions the West Kirby Hawks, and USA1, Ladies and Gentlemen of the USA, tied on seven wins, with the Hawks taking top slot on a tie break. GBR 2, The Royal Forth Hoosiers, took third, just ahead of USA 3, Days of Thunder, GBR 3, BYOB (Bristol Young and Old Boys from Bristol University Alumni) and USA 2, Team Shred.

In the Silver League the youth (under 19) teams gave the open teams a hard time. Top youth team USA Y1, Milton Academy, headed the league with seven wins. There was nothing to separate the next three, with GBR Y1, Magdalen College School, Japan 1 and Australia 2 tying on five, the tie break resulting in the order Japan, Australia 2 and GBR Y1.

In the youth stage (for youth teams only) USA Y1 took top honours with seven wins out of eight races, followed by GBR Y3, West Kirby Sailing Club on five wins, and GBR Y1 and GBR Y2, Sevenoaks School both on four, GBR Y1 taking third slot on the tie break.

GBR Y3 then beat GBR Y1 3-2 in a second/third place playoff to secure GBR Y3 a place in the youth final against USA Y1, and the bronze medals for GBR Y1

USA Y1 took the youth final gold honours with a 3-0 win over silver GBR Y3.

Robert Barron, stand-in coach for USA Y1 and father of team member Peter Barron, said: “One of our team members couldn’t make it so we brought in Paige Dunlevy, who had never team raced in a dinghy a week ago. Team member Eli Burnes, who’s twin brother Henry is also in the team, put this into motion six months ago as part of an 18 months programme at Milton Academy, San Francisco, aimed at retaining the national team racing title in America. Today they lost no races – it’s brilliant.”

Charlie Hibben, the team’s youngest helm, added: “Back home we’re not used to being congratulated by other teams on the win – here all the other youth teams approached us, shook our hands, gave us a hug – I want to come back here and sail again.”

Back at the racing, in the open competition semi-final USA 3 beat GBR 1 3-2 and USA 1 beat GBR 2 3-0.

The bronze medal was decided in favour of GBR 1 when they beat GBR 2 2-1 in the petit final.

Finally after some 107 races over nearly 12 hours of racing on Thursday, and 420 races in the whole event, with the light fading and the wind dropping the USA teams were victorious in the open final, with gold for USA 1 after a 3-0 victory over silver medallists USA 3.

USA 1 team captain Tyler Sinks said: “We really appreciate what everyone’s done here for the sport. The whole field was extremely competitive and we’re proud to share the podium with you guys (USA 3 and GBR 1). And congratulations to the USA youth team on their World Championship.”

Throughout the event the race office was, considering the pressure, an oasis of relative calm. Gill Wilkins, one of the many volunteers who spent long hours there, said: “The event has gone fantastically well. The whole team has worked really well together, officials and volunteers. I have been impressed with the wonderful team spirit amongst the sailors, who have been a pleasure to be around. It has been a huge honour for us at Rutland Sailing Club to hold this event.”

There were thanks all round at prize giving, and event director David Wilkins spoke of the organization involved, including having a RIB full of spares moored near the finish line to keep the hard pressed dinghies serviceable!

Jon Napier, ISAF technical delegate said: “ISAF would like to thank Rutland Sailing Club for the fantastic job they have done in organising and running the Championship to such a high standard. Enjoyable and exciting as team racing is, organising and delivering it at international level has its challenges and Rutland has more than met those.

“We would especially like to thank all the volunteers and club members who have given up the free time to get the event ready, look after the teams and generally keep the machine working as we have progressed through the days.”

On the third day of the 2015 ISAF Team Racing World Championships at Rutland Water it was the teams from Great Britain and USA who were fighting it out at the top of the leaderboard. Some 18 teams from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan and USA, plus an ASAF (Asian Sailing Federation) team comprising Indian, Malaysian and Hong Kong sailors are competing. After 237 races out of the five day, 504 race event reigning World Champions West Kirby Hawks were tying with team Ladies and Gentlemen of the USA, both on 24 wins.

Andy Cornah of the Hawks said: “We had a pretty windy day yesterday and it’s lighter today, so it’s good to have a variety of conditions. We’ve been pretty rusty but feel like we are steadily cranking it up. With a bad forecast for Friday it looks like the event may all hinge on tomorrow so a big day of potentially gold league racing and knockouts.”

Right behind the top two with 23 wins were current UK national champions the Royal Forth Hoosiers, and on 21 wins BYOB (Bristol Young and Old Boys from Bristol University Alumni). The British teams were slugging it out for the second and third slots with the USA teams Team Shread and Days of Thunder on 23 and 20 wins.

Next down the leaderboard was Ireland on 16 wins very closely followed by Bermuda on 15. It is Bermuda’s first time at a Team Racing World Championships and they are living up to the pre-event words of team captain Emily Nagel when she said: “We are eager to show the world that Bermudians can hold their own not only in fleet racing but team racing as well.”

Emily added today: “This is a fantastic event. I am really excited to be here with the Bermuda Team, especially as Bermuda has never entered before. It is great to be back here at Rutland Sailing Club, where I learnt to team race with Oakham School. The sailing conditions are great, the racing very competitive, and we are hoping to make Bermuda proud.”

The leading youth (under 19) teams were GBR Y1 on 12 wins and USA Y1 on 10 wins. Magdalen College School, Oxford, Sevenoaks School, Kent and West Kirby Sailing Club on the Wirral make up the three British youth teams. All the teams will not only be looking to move up in the standings as the regatta continues, but also move ahead of their compatriots for bragging rights.

Event director David Wilkins said: "Tuesday saw some challenging conditions, and gusts of up to 30 knots kept everyone on their toes. But another 100+ races were completed to keep the programme on schedule. The teams relaxed yesterday evening with a tour around Rutland Water, including a visit to the Osprey sanctuary in the evening on the ‘Rutland Belle’.”

Jon Napier, ISAF technical delegate added: “We’ve been making great progress through the Championship so far and a big thank you goes to all the volunteers and officials for the long hours they have spent on and off the water. The racing is close and the Championship is still wide open as we move into the Gold and Silver Leagues tomorrow.”

Sailing teams from around the World joined battle on the first day of the 2015 ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Team Racing World Championship at Rutland Sailing Club, Rutland Water on 20 July. Some 18 teams from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan and USA, plus an ASAF (Asian Sailing Federation) team comprising Indian, Malaysian and Hong Kong sailors are competing.

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, President of the Royal Yachting Association, visited the event and attended a reception to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of Rutland Sailability, which provides sailing for disabled people of all ages, in her capacity as Patron of the RYA Foundation.

On arrival Her Royal Highness was presented to Richard Langford, OBE, chairman of RYA Foundation, Martin Sutcliffe, Rutland Sailability chairman, Rutland Sailing Club commodore Nick Clarke, club manager Hugh Neill, and championship event director David Wilkins. David then explained the 2015 ISAF Team Racing World Championships from race control in the John Merricks Training Centre.

Following lunch Her Royal Highness chatted with championship competitors including the GBR 1 and the Japanese under 19 teams, then was taken out in the spectator boat by Rutland SC head coxswain Dick Richardson for a close up view of the action in the team racing, and to see a sail past by Rutland Sailability. Finally Her Royal Highness visited the clubhouse for a reception where she was introduced to members of Rutland Sailability.

Event director and former Olympic sailor David Wilkins said of the opening day’s events: “We’ve really had a fantastic day here. The racing has been very close between the top half dozen teams. The Royal visit was very enjoyable. Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal spent over an hour out on a boat. She was very interested in our Sailability fleet as there is such a wide variety from training to performance boats.

“She was very knowledgeable, having done a lot of sailing, and was fascinated with the team racing and picked up the format very quickly. You get some amazing things going on around the course marks and I would encourage anyone to come down and watch the racing.”

Francine Counsell, a twice British Universities Sailing Association team racing national champion, and now in the Bermudian team, said: “It’s good to see so many teams here at Rutland and great to have such a wide range of countries including Bermuda’s first time at a Team Racing World Championships.”

“We are eager to show the world that Bermudians can hold their own not only in fleet racing but team racing as well,” added team captain Emily Nagel, the 2014 International University Sports Federation women’s Match Racing World Champion. “We have all been busy training in earnest anticipation of the event in which Bermuda has never been represented before.”

The ISAF Grade 1 event is the pinnacle of international dinghy team racing. Races are very short at around 12 minutes and can be action packed and spectacular. The top sailors competing are often World and national dinghy champions in their own right. Many have sailed for university and collegiate teams and have already represented their countries at international level.

More than 100 races took place on day one, and after 99 races the British GBR 1 team West Kirby Hawks, who are the current World Champions, were tying with USA 1 on 11 race wins, closely followed on 10 wins each by GBR 2 and GBR 3, and USA 3 on nine wins. The top youth teams were USA Y1 on five wins and GBR Y1 on four.

The competition has Open and Under 19 divisions and the top three teams in each section will be awarded ISAF championship medals. The GBR 2 team is the Royal Forth Hoosiers, who are the reigning UK National Champions, and the GBR 3 team is from Bristol University. Magdalen College School, Oxford, Sevenoaks School, Kent and West Kirby Sailing Club on the Wirral make up the British Youth (under 19) teams.

Eric Billington from Winchester tells us that seventeen BSDRA school teams gathered for an all-day event at Spinnaker SC on Sat 13th June 2015 to contest the Southern Area Championships.

The weather was perfect, with a quite steady (for Spinnaker) breeze of some 10 to 15 knots. The first race was held up by a bunch of very stroppy hornets in a nest in one of the Southampton Uni boats, but once started the HLS system driven by Keith Sammons and Jo Lucas got us through the seeding stage of 68 races by lunchtime (8 races for each team).

We then moved to Gold, Silver, Bronze and Plate Leagues, with 4 teams in the first three and 5 teams in the Plate. With an hour to go we moved to best-of-three race semis featuring Gold 1, 2 and 3 and Silver 1, before finals. MCS A won in two over RGS Guildford and Winchester Red won in two over MCS B.

The final produced some extremely close racing, with Winchester Red winning the first race and MCS A the second. In the deciding race, MCS A quickly took a 234 position, but on the last beat Winchester moved into a 235 with 15 metres to sail. Then MCS A counter-attacked: their boat in 4 broke free of the lock and they squeezed over in a winning combination

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So MCS A were the winners, MCS B won the petit final, RGS were the Silver League winners, Lancing the Bronze winners and Claire’s Court B the Plate winners. Winchester Red were Southern Area Champions.